Dumplings filled with ground chicken, garlic, and spinach and served with a side of soy sauce. These garlic chicken spinach dumplings are simple to make, delicious, and can be frozen for later.

Happy Sunday! <3

I’ll be honest, I’m starting to lose track of the days of the week. lol. When you’re on a work schedule, you know where you’re supposed to be and what day it is. But when you’re at home every day, the days begin to blend together.

It’s been almost a week of sheltering in place for the SF Bay Area. And the more days pass, the more difficult it is. Because the future looks so uncertain right now. On the bright side, I’m starting to realize I have time for all those things that I never seemed to have time for before. I’m now reading Karen Rose’s and looking through cookbooks and magazines that are sitting in my To Be Read pile for months now. lol

But tell me. How are you guys doing? How are you feeling? Do you have to shelter in place where you are? And how are you keeping yourself occupied?

With that in mind, I wanted to share with you these garlic chicken spinach dumplings. When I first made them a couple months ago, I didn’t think that they would be as valuable as they are now. I wanted to test something simple, something everyone could find ingredients for, something everyone could make. It’s definitely not a classic Chinese dumpling, but it was a good place to start.

I never thought that these simple dumplings would become so useful. Not only are they delicious with easy to find ingredients but they could now become a pass time activity. These dumplings are perfect for right now.

Simple ingredients, which is especially perfect, since it’s not as easy as it was to go to the grocery store anymore.

A great activity to pass the time, especially if you have kids at home.

The perfect staying in kind of meal, but even better, you can freeze them for later too.

For these garlic chicken spinach dumplings, I bought store bought potsticker/dumpling wrappers from the supermarket. You can usually find them at Asian supermarkets or any big supermarkets like Safeway or Lucky’s. Or you can make your own using this recipe from Eat Cho Food.

In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, salt, and water until combined. Set aside for now.

In a small pot, heat water until it comes to a boil. Add baby spinach and cook for about 1-2 minutes until the spinach has wilted. Drain the spinach and run it through cold water to prevent it from continuing to cook. Once the spinach is cool to touch, squeeze out all the water. Chop the spinach into small pieces. Set aside for now.

Place a small amount in the center of the approximately 3 inch wrapper. Wet the edge of the wrapper and fold in half in a half moon shape. Pinch one end together and then fold pleats on one side or both. Once finished pleating, pinch the top together to seal. Or keep it simple and just seal the edges together without any pleats.

My first ones were definitely imperfect. The filling was spilling out.

But the more I pleated, the better they started to look.

To cook the dumplings:

In a large skillet, add about two tablespoons of olive oil over low to medium heat. Once the olive oil has heated, add the dumplings to the skillet in a single layer. Cook for about 2-3 minutes or until the bottom is golden brown.

Then carefully, add about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water, depending on big the skillet is. Be careful though. The water will splatter.

Cover the skillet, and cook the dumplings for an additional 6-7 minutes until all the water has evaporated. Remove the dumplings. Garnish with black sesame and cilantro.

Dumplings filled with ground chicken, garlic, and spinach and served with a side of soy sauce. These garlic chicken spinach dumplings are simple to make, delicious, and can be frozen for later.

Author: Andrea Giang

Recipe type: Entree

Serves: 60 dumplings

Ingredients

Soy Sauce Seasoning Mixture

2½ tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ cup water

Dumpling

3 cups fresh baby spinach

1 pound ground chicken

2½ teaspoons finely minced garlic

1 tablespoon finely chopped scallions

60 approx. 3 inch potsticker/dumpling wraps

For cooking

2 tablespoons olive oil

¼ - ½ cup water

For serving

Sesame seeds

Cilantro

Soy sauce

Chili pepper

Chili Oil

Directions:

In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, salt, and water until combined. Set aside for now.

In a small pot, heat water until it comes to a boil. Add baby spinach and cook for about 1-2 minutes until the spinach has wilted. Drain the spinach and run it through cold water to prevent it from continuing to cook. Once the spinach is cool to touch, squeeze out all the water. Chop the spinach into small pieces. Set aside for now.

Place a small amount in the center of the approximately 3 inch wrapper. Wet the edge of the wrapper and fold in half in a half moon shape. Pinch one end together and then fold pleats on one side or both. Once finished pleating, pinch the top together to seal. Or keep it simple and just seal the edges together without any pleats.

To cook the dumplings:

In a large skillet, add about two tablespoons of olive oil over low to medium heat. Once the olive oil has heated, add the dumplings to the skillet in a single layer. Cook for about 2-3 minutes or until the bottom is golden brown.

Then carefully, add about ¼ to ½ cup of water, depending on big the skillet is. Be careful though. The water will splatter.

Cover the skillet, and cook the dumplings for an additional 6-7 minutes until all the water has evaporated. Remove the dumplings. Repeat with the rest of the dumplings. Garnish with black sesame and cilantro.

About the author

Hi! Welcome to my site!
My name is Andrea, and I'm a registered dental hygienist, living in the San Francisco Bay Area. I have a major obsession with food as you can probably already guess. Stay, browse, and I hope you'll find something you'll want to try.

I’m glad you are able to use this time to catch up on things (and share such beautiful recipes with us!). For us, not much has changed, since we’re already living pretty isolated. Only my daughter who works in town has had to deal with changes, as she works in a pharmacy. It’s a part time job, and she’s down from 20 hours a week to 16, as the store now closes on Sundays. Plus the store now closes to customers an hour early for the staff to clean. My other daughter has a internet based art business, and still has plenty of commissions to work on, so nothing has changed for her. With my husband on disability, we’re fortunate in that our income isn’t affected.

It’s much harder to self isolate in the city! And more restrictive. We can go miles and still avoid people. If we were still in the city, we would have barely been able to go outside. The city we were in has called an emergency. Too many people were having block parties. !!!